THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL is another nostalgic
film from the
mind of director Wes Anderson. It plays
between four time periods and various aspect ratios with the 1932 story being
told in 1.37:1 and 1968 being in 2.40:1.
It is a story within a story within a story. The main story is
in 1932 resolving around
the concierge of the Grand Budapest Hotel, M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes), and his
lobby boy Zero Moustafa as they go on a great series adventure after one
Gustav’s clients Madam D (Tilda Swinton) is murdered and Gustav steals the
priceless painting “Boy With Apple” which is left to him in her will.
Mixed up in this plot with unique characters
played by a cast of great actors (Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe,
Bill Murray, Edward Norton, and
others) begins a desperate chase for a fortune that results in a prison break,
a ski chase, train rides, and running.
Willem Dafoe is perfect as Joplin, the murder henchman of Dimitri
(Adrien Brody)- the greedy son of Madam D.
Also Zero falls impossibly in love with Agatha (Saoirse Ronan), who
works at Mendl’s pastry shop.
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL is a joy to watch like
previous Wes
Anderson movies due to the casting, characters, the details that make up the
worlds in his movies, and nostalgia for another time and place and maybe even
movies from decades ago. It is my
favorite Wes Anderson since THE LIFE AQUATIC
WITH STEVE ZISSOU.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
BILL MURRAY TOURS THE
TOWN of Gorlitz where the movie was filmed
Vignettes:
KUNSMUSEUM ZUBROWKA LECTURE- a slide lecture
from the
fictional author of the fictional book about the movie
THE SOCIETY OF CROSSED KEYS-
the secret spy network of hotel concierges and their roles in events in 20th
century European history
MENDL’S SECRET RECIPE- the recipe for the
great pastry in
the film and how it is put together.
Fetaurettes:
THE MAKING OF THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL- four
part making-of
featurette
Part 1- THE STORY-
Part 2- THE SOCIETY OF CROSSED KEYS-
about the cast of actors Wes uses for the movie and how people gladly sign up
to do the movie
Part 3: CREATING THE HOTEL- transforming an empty
department
store into the hotel and the production offices (after finding no grand hotels
existed for the production to take over).
Part 4: CREATING A WORLD- all about the little
details
created to make a full (lived in) world you may only see glimpses of while
watching the movie in addition to creating various signage, newspaper stories,
and doing model work.
CAST- all about the ensemble cast of the film
WES ANDERSON- all about
the single unique vision of Wes Anderson as he collaborates with cast and crew
to create so many details that has interviews with cast and Wes Anderson
Rounding out the extras is a stills gallery
of the various
props and fictional newspaper articles, the theatrical trailer, and sneak peaks
for DOM HEMINGWAY, 3 DAYS TO KILL, 20th
anniversary Fox Searchlight, MGM 90th
anniversary, and Discover Digital HD. Also included is a code to download and
stream a Digital HD copy of the movie viz various devices (TV, computer,
tablets, and smartphones)
FINAL ANALYSIS: THE GRAND BUDAPEST is another
enjoyable
nostalgia trip as filtered through the creative mind of Wes Anderson.
This blu-rayreview is ©6-18-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted
without permission. Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com
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